


alone on new year's eve

by elliot_cant_write



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: F/F, New Year's Eve, and it's 2020, balcony neighbors, gaydestown mayhapse?, gratuitous references to new year's eve by pale waves and not even really for a good reason, hadestown but they're lesbians, ladiestown?, yes i am aware it is the second of january but i am not waiting a year to post this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28498122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliot_cant_write/pseuds/elliot_cant_write
Summary: Somewhere, someone laughed and somewhere else a door slammed, and Eurydice rolled her eyes. Fucking New Year’s. Of course, if she really cared, she could have been inside her apartment and on her couch and, like, reading a book or something, rather than leaning against the railing of her tiny balcony and not drinking the shitty wine her former roommate had left back in fucking March or whatever. But Eurydice had read all the books in her apartment back in June and she’d grown bored of Netflix a week ago and there’s a fucking pandemic and apparently this was her idea of excitement now.///Eurydice is having a rough New Year's Eve but maybe not having to be as alone can make it a bit better.
Relationships: (IMPLIED), Eurydice/Orpheus (Hadestown)
Kudos: 6





	alone on new year's eve

_ I don't wanna be alone on New Year's Eve. Do you even wanna be with me? _

Eurydice flicked her wrist, letting the dark purple-red wine in her glass spin around and around until it began to splash over the rim, most falling safely back into the glass but some flying too far and leaving tiny splatters along her pointer finger and thumb. But she didn’t do anything about it, save switching the glass to her other hand and letting the stream of red slowly drip off of her other hand, falling down into the dark streets below where she knew it would just mix with the puddles of water left over from when it had rained that morning. 

Somewhere, someone laughed and somewhere else a door slammed, and Eurydice rolled her eyes. Fucking New Year’s. Of course, if she really cared, she could have been inside her apartment and on her couch and, like, reading a book or something, rather than leaning against the railing of her tiny balcony and not drinking the shitty wine her former roommate had left back in fucking March or whatever. But Eurydice had read all the books in her apartment back in June and she’d grown bored of Netflix a week ago and there’s a fucking pandemic and apparently this was her idea of excitement now. 

Living on the edge when you can’t leave your house consists of the following:

  * Standing on a balcony in the dress you were supposed to have worn to your sister’s wedding which was supposed to have been in June but now it’s December and cold and the flowy yellow sleeves sprinkled in white flowers now just seem impractical instead of cute.
  * Not drinking the gross fucking wine your stupid fucking roommate left in the cabinets when she decided she wanted to quarantine with her boyfriend instead of you and moved to fucking Ohio.
  * Hoping the, like, birds or whatever can keep you company because you had just moved to the city when everything shut down and still know absolutely nobody



A rogue firework went off, burning orange against the lingering clouds and prompting Eurydice to check her watch to see if it had become midnight without her noticing, but no such luck. 11:50. They were just early. Ready to be done with 2020, probably. 

She sighed and finally brought the glass of gross-fucking-wine up to her lips and took a slow sip. It wasn’t as bad as she thought, just...dusty. And, like, tired. But maybe that was just her. 

A thought:

Sometimes, other people tarnish things from having them and sometimes you tarnish things from being around them and sometimes maybe freezing on a balcony in a post-winter solstice world makes things better.

Above her, a door opened and closed, and she heard the same creaking noise she probably would have heard earlier if she had chosen to sit on the ancient looking outdoor chair that had come with the apartment. 

Eurydice sighed again. What the fuck was she doing? She could have at least brought a jacket. And maybe some gloves. And maybe have put on warmer socks before she shoved her feet into a pair of boots. She could have called her sister and gotten take out and watched a movie and done literally anything else other than watch an empty city struggle to say goodbye to a nightmare of a year. 

Giving in and settling into her own outdoor chair, she pulled her phone back out (11:53) and didn’t open instagram because she did not need to see anyone she knew from high school celebrating or writing an obnoxious post about not needing to have accomplished anything this year asides from staying alive, as if that was going to make her feel better about wasting her young adulthood to writing mediocre college papers while sprawled out on her couch and watching enough stupid TV that maybe she’d forget that she hadn’t spoken to another human being in months. 

Anyway. Eurydice opened messages and composed a quick ‘happy new years!’ to send to her sister. She got a picture of her and her fiance making ridiculous faces while wearing truly hideous 2021 glasses in response, and almost smiled. 

Above her, probably coming from the same balcony as the aforementioned creaking, someone was playing the guitar, the notes catching on the breeze and drifting down to get tangled in her hair and make ripples in her drink. Another too-soon firework went off and imprinted on her eyelids as Eurydice closed her eyes , knowing that if she let it, the soft guitar could probably put her to sleep, but also not really caring because, well, fuck New Year’s. And if she lost her grip on her drink, at least she could throw this stupid dress out.

“ _ It was New Year's Eve, there's too much noise. I could barely hear my own voice.” _

Too soon, her eyes drifted back open as quiet singing began to accompany the guitar. The vocals were warm, almost taking some of the chill from her bare arms, and clearly the singer was quite talented, even making a low-effort performance sound impressive. 

Eurydice burrowed further back into the chair, pulling her knees up to her chest and balancing her wine glass on the rickety wooden arm, as the person above her kept singing.

“ _ And you found me outside, looking like somebody died, thought my heart was coming out my chest. _ ”

“That sounds really good.” 

Both the guitar and the singing stopped, and Eurydice slammed a hand over her mouth. Fuck. Fuck, fuck fuck, fuck,  _ fuck _ . 

Another thing:

Sometimes when you’re alone for too long, you forget that other people can hear you. 

A noise. Probably a laugh. “Thanks.”

She let a slow breath out through her nose. Maybe she hadn’t butchered her first human interaction in ages. “That song sounds sad.”

Another noise, probably the guitar being set down. “It sort of is. Lonely, at least. Maybe lost too.”

She didn’t say anything for a second. Then, “I’m Eurydice.”

“I’m Orpheus.”

_ Oh, of course _ . Her ex-roommate had mentioned the girl upstairs who was a musician, saying, you know, pre-pandemic, that they should go see her play. Eurydice had seen her around a few times. Sort of dreamy looking, like she was walking out of a really chill hallucination or maybe someone’s vague idea of what the fifties might have looked like. Or whatever decade it was that Eurydice was trying and failing to think of. But she was cute, if it mattered. Seemed nice. Apparently was a really good musician. Whatever, it wasn’t a big deal. 

“What are you doing out in the cold on New Year’s Eve, if you don’t mind me asking?” Orpheus asked, when Eurydice didn’t say anything.

She glanced down at her drink. “Not drinking.”

Orpheus laughed, totally unrestrained like she had been taken by surprise. Eurydice couldn’t help it; she smiled. “Really! I’m not lying. My old roommate left this wine here and I’m sort of hoping that it will spill over on my dress so I can kill two birds with one stone and get both out of my apartment.”

That made Orpheus laugh too, which made Eurydice feel warm in the same way that her singing had. “Couldn’t you just throw them out without all the ritual?”

“Not without feeling guilty.” Eurydice glanced at her phone again. 11:56. “Why are you playing a sad song outside at four minutes ‘till midnight?”

Some more shuffling. “I was hoping to see the stars, but no such luck. Too many clouds.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” That made them both laugh, which made Eurydice’s chest tighten and her fingers tingle in the best way imaginable. “What comes next?”

“Hm?”

“In the song.” She clarified. “What comes next?”

“Oh.” She heard Orpheus pick up the guitar again. “Uh, let’s see.” She started strumming the melody from before again. “ _ I don't wanna be alone on New Year's Eve. Do you even wanna be with me? I don't wanna be alone on New Year's Eve. Do you even wanna be with me? _ ” Her voice was still sweet and soft and warm, but there was more control this time around, presumably since she now knew she had an audience. Eurydice found herself missing the rawness of earlier, but pushed that sentiment as far down as she could because it was:

  1. Weird
  2. A bit creepy
  3. Had implications she didn’t want to think through right now



“That was the chorus.” Orpheus said, letting a few lazy notes tumblr down from the guitar. “Do you want me to keep going?”

“Yeah. It’s nice.”

This time she could hear the smile in the other girl's voice, at odds with the tone of the song but contagious nonetheless, and Eurydice felt an awkward if unfamiliar grin form on her own lips. “ _ I vaguely remember laughing with your best friend and you used to tell me that she didn't like me. Did you lie or did she pretend? _ ” Another early firework went off as Orpheus tried to move into the chorus again, and she played a few sour notes. “Shoot.”

“That’s okay.” Eurydice said, checking her phone again. “It’s 11:59. Only one minute left.”

Orpheus plucked out a few more notes, and Eurydice heard her exhale. “What a dreadful year.”

“Tell me about it.” Eurydice gave up and went back to drinking the gross-fucking-wine. “I mean, the two of us have to have the most pathetic New Year’s Eve plans the world has ever seen. I mean, drinking gross wine in the cold and playing a guitar to the stars? Just the thought could bring someone to tears.”

“I can’t even see the stars.”

Eurydice gestured dramatically, nearly getting her wish of ruining her dress as the wine sloshed dangerously. “You can’t even see the fucking stars!”

That sent both of them into hopeless laughter, tears brimming at the corner of Eurydice’s eyes half from that and half just because oh my god she was  _ talking _ to someone. 

Somewhere the clock struck midnight and it was like someone flipped a generator. The skies lit up with fireworks, every colour Eurydice could imagine bouncing off the windows and her eyelashes and the puddles in the streets. Somewhere somebody was cheering and someone else had opened the door to a room where loud bad music was playing, and she couldn’t even bring herself to be that upset. 

The sound eventually died down, only the few stragglers occasionally going off, but to just as loud cheers as the previous group. 

There was nothing but silence from above her, and Eurydice’s heart sank. Which was ridiculous, because for starters she didn’t even know Orpheus, and also because the poor girl had just wanted to play her guitar without Eurydice harassing her. No wonder she left as soon as she could. 

Eurydice was about to say fuck it, down the rest of the gross-fucking-wine, and go inside for the night, but then,

“Eurydice?”

“Yeah?”

“Happy New Year’s.”

She smiled, and the warmth was back. “Happy New Year’s, Orpheus.”

A final thing:

Maybe sometimes stuff just doesn’t have to suck.

_ I don't wanna be alone on New Year's Eve. You're the best thing that's happened to me. _

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know what it is about hadestown that makes me want to write about holidays i don't celebrate but funnily enough my only other ht fic is a christmas one. That one was written waaaay before broadway so it was fun to get to write this with eva!eurydice in mind. for orpheus, ig you can think of whomever you want lmao. (sorry reeve i'll write your orpheus one day!!). oh also i never planned to write a pandemic fic but it seemed more natural than just trying to write a normal new years. so here we are!  
> hope you enjoyed and happy 2021! my tumblr is @lesbianelizabethfrankenstein if you want to be friends :)


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